


A Mutant's Worth

by Hixart (Zoobertosis)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: 1940s, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Captain America: The First Avenger, Mutants, No Slash, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Science Experiments, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-02-15 20:11:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18676615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoobertosis/pseuds/Hixart
Summary: During Steve and the Howling Commandos' tour of Europe, the last thing the team expects to find in the safeguarded, underground tunnels of a HYDRA base was a 14 year old Erik Lehnsherr. After discovering his mutation, the Commandos take Erik back to base for Stark and the rest of the US military to crack the enigma of this superpowered teenager.





	1. Chapter 1

Comparatively, Steve thought, the raid on this base had been going well. Intel of a HYDRA research base had come in not six days prior, and the Commandos along with HQ had hurriedly botched a plan together for invasion before the arrival of new forces was expected at the camp tomorrow. The siege had occurred rather quickly. The Commandos had met up with additional forces at Kraków and traveled west through the forest for two hours. At sundown, the US forces had attacked, Steve taking point as usual. The main problem was his radio had gotten crushed 5 minutes into the fight. The plan had been to clear the first floor then move down, so rather than waiting to regroup, or call for backup as he obviously could not, Steve had proceeded down into the catacombs of the facility.

     The security seemed more pervasive down in the basement, but the majority of the guards had returned to the surface after the initial alarm had been triggered. Steve paced down the metal corridors, careful to check each room before moving further down the hallway. It seemed that this is where most of the research was taking place. Most of the rooms held lab space and live research specimens. Monkeys, rats, even a few dogs. Between the constant screaming and howling of the animals, along with the angry sounding of the alarm that had yet to be turned off, Steve could barely hear his own thoughts. He thought, a little ironically, it was probably of no consequence that his radio was destroyed, because he wouldn't be able to hear a damn thing anyway.

     Steve continued his trek further into the facility, only having to take out two more guards along his way, before he came upon a very peculiar sight. The hallway branching to his right was unfinished. In direct contrast to the clean, metal walls of the rest of the facility, this hallway was made only in the earth that surrounded it, and had no flashing red alarm lights. In fact this hallway has no lights at all, even with his enhanced sight, Steve could only peer a few yards into the ominous hallway.

     This was the only section of the basement Steve had yet to clear, and he'd be damned I'd he was going to let a creepy ass hallway to keep him from completing the mission. With a breath, Steve adjusted his shield on his arm and proceeded into the dimly lit corridor.

…

     It had to have been almost 5 minutes of walking now. The tunnel Steve had advanced in seemed to have no end, he had had to have walked half a mile  and the tunnel showed no signs of stopping. He had yet to see any HYDRA agents, and the damp, earthen wall had eaten up the cacophony of sound that was the halls before. After 2 more turns, Steve saw a light cast upon the wall in front of him. 'Whatever lie behind this corner', he thought, ' is the first sign of life I've seen in this damnable hole.' He slowed to a sneaking pace and rounded the corner with his shield raised and eyes vigilant. However, the sight that lay before him was not what he expected.

     The narrow corridor cleared into a larger, but still considerably small room of about 7 feet high. The room was bisected by a series of wooden slats the created a cage on the opposite side from Steve. There as a single, dismal looking little wooden door on Steve's right side leading into the cell. The light was coming from small, flickering candle set just outside the cage. Behind the wooden wall lay, if not for the fact that it was moving, what a Steve might have thought was a pile of rags. However, under a threadbare blanket, was a human kid, whose only discernible feature was his ice blue eyes.

     Eyes that were staring directly at Steve.

     Steve had honestly skipped most of basic training, along with any and all subsequent classes. So he had sure as hell never had any training in prisoner of war situations. (He had field experience, by god he had a lot of that, but this kid in front of him was not Bucky, and probably wouldn't be charmed by his Captain America Smile ™ enough to stop being traumatized) This meant that he was probably the wrong man for this job, but it's not like he could run back to surface and drag Morita out of battle because Steve couldn't talk to a kid.

     Steve learned down into a crouch, then lowered himself onto his knees. He slowly unbuckled the shield from his arm and set it on the dirt floor. He raised his hands up near his shoulders in a clear placatory gesture. The boy's eyes were glued to him the whole time.

     Steve cleared his throat quietly, then broke the silence in a low voice, "Hi, my name is Steve, I'm here to help."

     He was met with silence, but after a few second of hesitation,the boy sat up in his cell and dragged himself and his blanket closer to the wooden slats. The boy leaned in, as near as he could while still being out of Steve's arms reach, and spoke in a terribly hoarse voice.

     "Bist du hier, um mich zu verletzen?"*

     Right, language barrier. Steve was definitely the wrong man for this job. But Steve had been in Europe long enough to recognize German when he heard it, and to have picked up a few words here and there. He organized his thoughts for second, and with as much confidence as he could muster, spoke, 

     "Ich bin, hier nicht,,, er Ich bin nicht böse. Wir guten?"**

     Lord help him that was terrible, he'd probably scared the kid more at this point. He should just go back up the surface and beat heads in like he was good at and get one of the infantry to get the kid. This was a terrib-

     "Ich denke….. ich denke dass es dir gut geht "*** whispered the boy. He had finally moved right to the edge of the slats and was still staring straight at Steve.

     Finally, Steve could see the kids face clearer. He was a little older than Steve had originally thought, mid teens at least, but the mistake was easy to make because of how small the kid was. His cheek bones were prominent and his eyes were sunken in; he looked like he'd weigh 80 pound soaking wet. Definitely starved, Steve concluded. This kid definitely needed to get out now.

     Steve didn't quite know what it was the kid had said, but based on the tone of voice he guessed it meant 'I trust you big American, get me the hell out of here'. He went to stand and picked his shield up off the floor. He gestured for the kid to move back and brought his arm back to shatter the door.

     With a solid crack, the door broke clear in half down the middle. Steve pulled the remaining fragments out and tossed them aside, making an exit. This left Steve at the entrance and the boy in the rear corner. Steve yet again put his hands up as he approached the boy and shifted towards him.

     As soon as Steve was about to lay his hand on the kid, the kid flinched back. Hard enough to crack his head on the wall.

     Steve winced, then tried yet again to calm the kid.

     "Hey, uh I mean, ich bin Steve. Was bist heiße?"****

     There was a baited breath, but after a second the kid whispered back.

     "Erik". Steve breathed a sigh of relief.

     "Ich hilf du, Erik"***** Steve stared directly into Erik's eyes and luckily, quicker than his last responses, Erik nodded his head.

     Steve learned forward again, laying his hand on Erik's shoulder with no resistance. On the chance that he would have to face combat on the way out (and the fact the he doubted Erik could stand up on his own) Steve opted lift Erik onto his back for the trek back to the surface.

…

     On the way back through the tunnel, Steve took a second to realize that there was a lot more strange things going on than he had originally noticed. Why no other human subjects? Why the dirt tunnel? And the wooden bars? It didn't seem like HYDRA to do things so, messily. But thinking could wait. Steve could feel Erik's breath against the back of his neck, and he knew that whatever the hell was going on, he needed to get this kid out of here first. HYDRA wasn't know for being kind to their prisoners.

     Once they were nearing the corridor, Steve began to hear the renewed howls of the test animals, but luckily it seems the alarm system was finally disabled. That meant the base was captured. Thank God. Steve didn't doubt that could fight with Erik on his back, but he didn't want to risk injuring the kid. Steve hiked back up through the basement to the ground floor and found the majority of the Commandos waiting there for him. Dum Dum and Bucky were arguing on whether or not Steve would be dumb enough to clear the basement without backup. Bucky seemed to believe that "Of course Steve would jump in with no cover, Erskine's serum grew everything but his brain, you know."

     Ouch, Buck.

    Steve cleared his throat and the Commandos all snapped their heads to look at him. Falsworth and Jones share a look. Dernier barks out a laugh.

     "Well that answers your question, boys." Bucky looked smug about winning his argument, but Steve could tell he was going to get a good tongue lashing later about this. Dum Dum looked a little defeated.

     Jones spoke up first, "So Captain, who's the kid?"

     Everybody, minus Steve and Jones, tensed. America's finest everybody, failing to notice a person literally on their Captain's back.

     "Erik, POW I think, he doesn't speak English"

     Bucky spoke up, "So… you just took him?"

     "What the hell else was I supposed to do Buck? Let him burn when we blow up the base?"

     Bucky flinched back a little bit, then righted himself "Right, okay then, Steve you take the kid out of here, ground troops are rounding up stragglers right now, the rest of us will grab whatever files we can and meet you back at the recon point. Sound good?"

     "Buck, aren't I supposed to be the Capt-", Steve was cut off by the crack of a gunshot.


	2. Chapter 2

In the split second it took Steve to realize what was going on, a lot had already happened. Steve was the only one facing the hallway that the Commandos had come through, and thus should have been the one to notice the gunman first; a HYDRA agent, beat to hell but not as unconscious as he was supposed to be. Steve had knocked him out earlier. He had apparently gotten back up, saw America's golden boy, and decided to shoot him in the head, knock a few years off the war maybe. He fired, and his aim was true. However, the fact that the bullet had stopped about five inches in front of Steve's forehead was the real puzzling thing.

     After Steve had had his split second to process the impossibility of the situation, he brought the gun holstered on his thigh up and shot the nazi right in the forehead. Right where he should have been shot.

    At this point the Commandos were coming back online, Bucky and Dernier turned back to make sure that the perp really was dead, but the rest of the groups eyes remained fixed on Steve. Or well, the kid on his back. Steve finally noticed how Erik's breathing had gone from steady to panicked and exerted. Erik was using one hand to grip around Steve's neck, and the other he had held out next to Steve's forehead, about an inch in front of the bullet. With a groan, Erik dropped his hand, and the bullet fell to the ground with and echoing clink.

    There was another pause, all Commandos looking at the bullet on the ground, then back up to Erik.

     "Erik?", Steve said quietly.

     Erik groaned again then let his head fall against the nape of Steve's neck. He was unconscious.

     Bucky spoke,"Hey Steve, not that I'm not grateful, but what the fuck was that."

     "I agree" said Dum Dum," 'what the fuck' is an accurate way to describe what we just saw." His voice was shaking just a little bit. The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

      Steve took stock of the situation. He had a passed out, little German kid on his back that can stop bullets. He also, conveniently enough, did not have a bullet in his brain. It only took Steve a second to realize that, no matter what the hell HYDRA had done to this kid, he owed Erik a debt now.

     The Commandos were waiting to see what he would say. Steve tilted up his chin in confidence and faced them.

     "You heard Bucky, you guys grab all the research notes you can find, then burn the place to the ground, I'll meet you at camp."

     There was a tense pause, but the course of, "Yes, Captain"s that followed helped ease the tension in Steve's shoulders. He shifted Erik back up against his back and started out the door.

…

     It had been about 3 hours, and Erik was still asleep. Steve had made it back to camp with relatively little fanfare (though a few whispers about the kid on the Captains back) and had set Erik down in his tent. Once the Commandos had arrived back about half an hour ago with the rest of the troops and a few HYDRA prisoners, each of Steve's men have come in on their own to check on the kid and Steve.

     Bucky was currently in the tent with them, and Steve had been right about the tongue lashing.

     "So let me get this straight, you broke your radio, like a dumbass; went down alone into the secret science murder floor without backup, like a dumbass; saw a dirty cave and just went in, like a dumbass; grabbed our little friend here, then proceeded to resurface, get shot, and find out that the kid here stops bullets with his hands. Am I missing anything?" 

     "You forgot that the cave had no lights and I broke my flashlight when I broke my radio, so I was going in blind"

     Bucky smacked Steve on the back of the head.

     " Jesus Christ, Steve!", Bucky shouted " I know you are filled with Stark and Erskine's super juice, but that doesn't mean that you can just keep jumping headlong into danger because you can! You have no idea what the hell they did to the kid in there and yet you are bringing him with us anyways! They could have pumped the kid full of-"

     "Erik"

     Bucky blinked, "What?"

     " 'the kid'. His name is Erik"

     Bucky paced once again around the tent then sat next to Steve on the floor against the cot. He huffed a big breath out through his mouth, and sat in companionable silence for a moment.

     "Erik, huh." He huffed again. "Goddammit Steve, you've already gotten attached to the little bastard, huh?"

     "He saved my life, Buck. I at least owe it to him to find out what HYDRA did to him. Who knows how long he's been in that facility? They could have been experimenting on him for years."

    " Dammit Steve, he can control bullets. Don't you think that if HYDRA was going to put that much effort into a project that they'd add safe guards? What if Erik is some kind of sleeper soldier that is gonna go on a killing spree the first time he hears 'Ma, baseball, and apple pie?' What the hell are you going to owe him then, Steve?" Bucky sounded pleading at this point.

     "....Buck. I had a bullet 5 inches from my goddamn head and he stopped it. Don't you think that if he was HYDRA, me getting shot in the head would be best case scenario? Cover be damned, any agent would take that option. So why did he stop it? What's the point?" Steve paused to take a breath.", let's just, take him back to HQ, if Phillips and Stark find out that he's a shell about to blow then we cut our losses, but I'll be damned if I don't at least try for this kid."

     "Look, Cap-"

     "Steve?"

     Erik had woken up, and now he was staring bleary eyed down at Steve and Bucky on the floor. Steve immediately turned around and knelt by Erik's side. Erik was on edge, he kept looking rapidly back from Steve, to Bucky, to the rest of the tent. Steve turned to Bucky,

     "Buck, can you give me a minute?"

     There was a second of hesitation, but Bucky got up and left the tent through the opening flap.

     Steve turned his attention back to Erik, the kid was trembling now. Just as Steve was about to speak, Erik interrupted.

     "Where are... us?" Erik's accent was terribly thick, and he had obviously spoken about has much English as Steve had German, but it was reassuring to hear him speak all the same.

     "Safe, camp." Steve nodded his head and gestured outside. It was the middle of the night now, but through the open flap of the tent one could see the workings of the camp. Privates ran back and forth along the pathways delivering messages and correspondence, as well as any number of supplies. There was no fire tonight, they were still too close to other German facilities, but a few men had gathered at the base of an outcropping and were eating their rations while having quiet conversation. Steve's tent faced away from the medical tent, but you could still hear the doctors and nurses hard at work on the wounded, through the steady clank of tools on tables and the soft thwap of cloth bandages being shook out and wrapped. There was also some groaning from the wounded themselves, but the majority of the camps activities happened without much conversation, lest they risk being located by the enemy.

     The plan was to pack up the approximately eighty troops that were part of the attack and camp, and march back to Krakow where the could get flights back to HQ in England. They were set to leave in the early morning, just after sunrise.

     Erik and Steve sat in silence, letting Erik get adjusted to the stimulus of an active military camp. Erik spoke up about a minute later.

     "Steve?"

     Steve made a non committal noise, still staring out at the camp.

     "Please, do not leave me, will you" Erik's voice was still hoarse and quiet. Probably from disuse, that or screaming. Steve shuttered a little bit at the thought. Steve took a second to process what Erik had meant, but then he turned to Erik with a soft smile.

     " I will not leave you Erik, ich versprechen"*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation:  
> *Ich versprechen- I promise  
> (I'll try and add less german later so its an easier read)  
> Hey sorry this is a little later than I promised last time! AP tests kicked my ass but they are over with now so were all good. I'll try to get this more back on track like I planned, let me know what you think! Thanks!

**Author's Note:**

> Translations (I'm okay at German, but some of this was google translate):
> 
> *"Are you here to hurt me?"
> 
> **(in bad German)"I am, here not… I am not evil. We are good."
> 
> ***" I think… I think that you are okay."
> 
> ****"I am Steve. What is name you?"
> 
> ***** "I will help you, Erik."
> 
> Whoo, first chapter! I only have the first 2 chapters written now, but I think this story will probably end around 10 chaps. I thought of this au when watching a the first avenger re-run, and I just had to write it I guess. This is my first fic to comments and kudos would be appreciated, thanks. (I'll try for weekly updates)


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